Toronto stocks ended lower Thursday amid weakness in the heavily weighted financials group. The S&P/TSX composite index closed down 40.03 points, or 0.48%, at 8,331.34 on volume of 163 million shares.

The TSX financials group slipped 0.66% as shares of Toronto-Dominion Bank slipped 97¢, or 2.18%, to $43.58 after the bank said it buy a 51% in Banknorth Group Inc. of Portland, Maine, in a cash and stock deal worth US$3.8 billion U.S.

National Bank and Laurentian bank both closed lower after reporting stronger third-quarter earnings. National Bank shares slipped 49¢ to $44.50, while Laurentian shares fell 20¢ to $28.05.

Shares of banking technology provider Datawest soared 32¢, or 37%, at $1.18 after it announced a deal to be acquired by Open Solutions Inc.

Technology issues fell 1.51%, as Nortel Networks shed 13¢, or 2.48%, at $5.11. Tundra Semiconductor dropped $1.13, or 6.88%, to $15.30.

Industrial stocks fell 0.56% as Bombardier weighed on the group. Bombardier shares fell almost 8%, 23¢, to $2.70 on heavy volume of after the transportation firm releases a weak outlook.

Shares of Sears Canada finished at $16.39, up 27¢, after the retailer terminated the contract of chairman and CEO Mark Cohen over “strategic differences” in the future direction of the business.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index fell 6.39 points to close at 1,514.92.

On Wall Street, U.S. blue chips were flat in light trading, but technology stocks slipped lower after Banc of American Securities cut its forecast for the semiconductor industry.

Oil prices continued to cool. Prices fell for the fifth consecutive day, settling US37¢ lower at US$43.10 a barrel.

The Dow Jones industrial average ended down 8.33 points, or 0.08%, at 10,173.41. The S&P 500 rose 0.13 points, or 0.01%, at 1,105.09. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index slipped 7.80 points, or 0.42%, at 1,852.92.